Gluten-free Glutton: Don't take advice from Miley Cyrus

About a month ago, Miley Cyrus announced on Twitter that her recent weight loss was not due to rumored anorexia but instead from her gluten-free diet.

“Everyone should try no gluten for a week! The change in your skin, physical and mental health is amazing!” the teen pop star tweeted.

With all due respect, Miley, you have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s horrible advice.

If you don’t have a medical condition that requires you to go on a gluten-free diet, there is absolutely no reason to do it. And if you think you may have a medical condition caused by eating gluten, you should see a doctor before trying the diet.

A gluten-free diet will not necessarily help you lose weight. For the record, I’ve gained about five pounds since going gluten free 17 months ago.

And a gluten-free diet is not some holistic remedy that will improve your physical and mental health. Actually, I find the diet quite depressing at times when I think about foods I love that I can’t eat anymore.

I was forced into a gluten-free diet when I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a condition that causes damage to the intestines when ingesting gluten. The only treatment for the disease is a diet without gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

May is Celiac Awareness Month, a time when celiacs are trying to get the word out about why we have to eat gluten free.

“A little bit of gluten is arsenic to our bodies,” said Alice Bast, founder and president of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Unfortunately, the gluten-free diet has received a lot of attention from celebrities like Cyrus and Kim Kardashian, who also recently announced her gluten-free diet has helped her lose weight.

“We’re making progress but the popular media is not assisting in this process,” Bast said.

“It is critical that you connect a gluten-free diet to a medically necessary diet. This is not a weight-loss diet,” she said.

Why do we care? Because we want people to know that when we ask questions about the preparation of a meal in a restaurant or even when visiting friends, we have legitimate health concerns. We’re not just being fussy about our food.

The NFCA says that about 3 million Americans have celiac disease and another 18 million have some type of gluten intolerance, in which eating gluten causes them to feel sick.

“The symptoms are identical but there is minimal intestinal damage,” Bast said about gluten intolerance.

She said researchers are now using the term “gluten-related disorder” to refer to all people who have medical issues from eating gluten.

Many restaurants are already well aware of gluten-related disorders and have taken steps to make sure they can accommodate those customers. Some restaurants are doing their part to help educate others.

The Melting Pot Restaurants Inc. is marking Celiac Awareness Month by placing posters and table tent displays in its 140 fondue restaurants, including one in Jacksonville, to educate all of its customers about gluten intolerance.

The Melting Pot has had a gluten-free menu since 2010 that includes cheese and chocolate fondues, and other entrees, in response to customer inquiries.

“We had been receiving requests for a gluten-free option for more than two years before that,” said Alisha dos Santos, communications manager for Tampa-based Front Burner Brands, which owns The Melting Pot.

Having a gluten-free menu is more than just serving foods without wheat, rye and barley. There are also concerns about preparations in the kitchen. Restaurants need to prepare gluten-free meals separately from other meals to avoid cross contamination, because some people can get sick from even trace amounts of gluten.

According to the NFCA, there are more than 300 symptoms of celiac disease. The organization provides a lot of information about the symptoms on its website at celiaccentral.org.

If you think you may have symptoms of celiac disease or some other gluten-related disorder, don’t start a gluten-free diet. There is a blood test used as a first step in diagnosing celiac but if you’ve been avoiding gluten, the test will come out negative even if you do have the disease. So you should see a doctor and get tested before trying the gluten-free diet.

“It’s imperative,” said Bast.

There is way too much misinformation about the gluten-free diet out there. Television personality Dr. Oz recently suggested on his show that people should try a gluten-free diet if they have the symptoms, and didn’t say anything about getting tested. Now I’m sure he has more medical training than I do, but from everything I’ve learned, he’s wrong.

Bast said a lot of physicians have not been educated about celiac disease. My primary care doctor, after sending me to a specialist, even admitted to me when I was diagnosed that he did not know a lot about it.

If you learn anything during Celiac Awareness Month, please learn that you should not try a gluten-free diet to lose weight, no matter how much you admire Miley Cyrus.

“We’ve tried to figure out how we can raise awareness that this is a serious medical condition,” said Bast.

“We’ve got to be able to get the message out there.”

Mark Basch’s column appears the second Thursday of the month. He also writes a blog about gluten-free eating in Jacksonville at jaxglutenfreeglutton.blogspot.com/. You can reach him at basch.mark@gmail.com.

Part of me wants to agree with Dr. Oz on this one, at least to a degree. My symptoms went from occasionally annoying to completely unlivable, literally overnight. My variety of symptoms were constant upset stomach, insomnia, agoraphobia, gag reflexes, extreme panic attacks without a stimulating event, and extreme dehydration. I was in terrible shape. I went to the doctor, had some tests run, and it was deemed that there was nothing wrong with me; all I needed to do was cut back on antacids, take up yoga, and see a psychiatrist. I literally couldn't stand to be in public for more than about 20 minutes. I couldn't stand to sit in a car, either. I didn't have time to wait to go through test after test after test and from doctor to doctor to doctor for someone to figure out it was gluten intolerance and not just something messed up in my head (although admittedly, to go from no history of psychological reactions to being completely afraid of society, I was a little crazy). After speaking with two gluten intolerant friends and recognizing there was a history of it in my family, I went gluten free without the consultation of a doctor. I was fine within a couple of weeks. I've never been tested, so I don't know if mine is gluten intolerance or Celiacs, but it doesn't really matter to me. What matters is I feel better, and I know what I need to avoid, and I understand my body better. Clearly a doctor's consultation was not imperative to that; if anything, the word of a doctor just made me feel worse. ALL that said, though, you're absolutely right. Celebs using the diet as a fad diet to apparently lose weight is no way to create real Celiacs awareness.